Quick hits, lighter moments from inaugural

WASHINGTON  We're not expecting to hear big policy proclamations or specific details of President Barack Obama's second term agenda in his inaugural speech. And that's just fine with 32-year-old Sean Payton, a Democrat from Highland Ranch, Colo., visiting Washington for the inauguration.

"I'm just hoping for a nice eloquent speech that makes people feel good about being an American."

Obama aides say he'll talk about nation's founding values and broadly lay out his vision of the country's future.

A nervous hush fell over the ornate Blue Room of the White House on Sunday as family members and a few reporters awaited the president amid the grandeur of floor-to-ceiling blue-and-gold curtains, an imposing chandelier and portraits of past presidents on the wall.

Marian Robinson, the president's mother-in-law, beamed from a seat closest to where the first family would stand with Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath. Her son, Craig, the first lady's brother, rested his hands on his mother's shoulders.

Minutes later, the walls of the oval-shaped room would reverberate with deep timbre of Obama's voice as he recited the simple oath that has been repeated by every president before him. But for a few moments, there was silence.

Wondering why Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in Sunday for his second term hours before the president?

The early hour had to do with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is promoting her memoir, "My Beloved World," and had to catch a train to make her Manhattan bookstore appearance that afternoon.

The president and vice president typically are sworn in one after the other, just before noon on Jan. 20. - as Obama was at the White House by Chief Justice John Roberts. Biden was sworn in at 8:21 a.m. EST at his official residence at the Naval Observatory.

He escorted Sotomayor out immediately afterward, and explained to more than 100 guests there as witnesses that he would be gone for a little while because he had to meet Obama for a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns.

"I will be back, they tell me, in 40 minutes," Biden said. "I hope some of you will still be here."

Obama helped stain a bookshelf at an elementary school in southeast Washington over the weekend, then later marveled at how stylishly his wife carried out the community service project while he had a problem with achy knees.

For the project, Mrs. Obama wore a purple-and-black long-sleeved top, black bottoms and black boots, not typical wardrobe choices for a painter.

They had gone to Burrville Elementary School to help spruce it up, one of hundreds of events across the country during Saturday's National Day of Service that opened inauguration weekend. Hundreds of volunteers joined the Obamas at the school.

"I hear reports that the very young people did some really good work and some of the older folks like me, who it hurt getting our knees kind of bending down a little bit, we were able to manage also, and somehow Michelle looked stylish the whole time she was doing it."

And, how about those bangs?

President Barack Obama rendered his opinion on what he called the most significant event of inaugural weekend: his wife's new haircut.

"I love her bangs. She looks good. She always looks good," the president said Sunday night at a reception in Washington.

First lady Michelle Obama unveiled the new hair-do in a White House photo released last Thursday, her 49th birthday.

A loud boom in the school gymnasium during remarks by Mrs. Obama on Saturday startled many in the audience, understandable given who was on stage. But the noise was just from a piece of equipment that tumbled off the bleachers where the media had been stationed to hear the remarks.

The first lady quickly sought to reassure those gathered and lay blame where it belonged.

"That was the press," she said, during a national service event. "Don't be afraid."